


Better Than Gold

by theskywasblue



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Birthday Presents, Brotherhood, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-02
Updated: 2011-05-02
Packaged: 2017-10-19 01:06:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/195195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theskywasblue/pseuds/theskywasblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean tries to make Sam's birthday a happy one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Than Gold

**Author's Note:**

> for the prompt "Elephants" - though it really has nothing to do with them...oops. Happy birthday Sam!

“This is _stupid_ , Dean."

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, "God, would you just stop bitching for like, two minutes? Would that kill you?"

Across the aisle of the bus, and old woman in a pink head scarf, sitting with a little boy who was probably her grandson, shot Dean a dirty look. Dean flashed her his best apologetic smile as Sam slouched and stuck his feet up on the back of the seat in front of them, tugging irritably at the laces of his kicks.

"It might. I just want to go back to the hotel and finish my homework."

"Well excuse me for wanting to do something nice for you on your fu – your friggin' birthday." Dean resisted the urge to slouch in his seat and match Sam's posture of total bitchy misery. It was a serious effort; he was sixteen, he wasn't going to play these dumbass games with a moody twelve year-old.

"I'm not _five_ , Dean. I don't want to go to the zoo on my birthday."

And okay, maybe it was a stupid idea – Dean would admit to that – but goddamn it, Sam had been so pissed off and in knots about missing the field trip to the elephant sanctuary in Greenbrier because they’d had to pack up and skip town again; so sue Dean for trying to think of something that was similar, even if he was pretty sure this place wasn’t even remotely comparable – but hey, they had tigers, and seriously, tigers had to trump elephants any day. Though apparently not, since Sam was just determined to be a pissy bitch.

Dean scrubbed his hand over his face, biting back the sigh he could feel welling up in his chest like Sammy's cheap science fair volcano, primed to explode. There was anger underneath it, feeding the whole thing, but he tamped that down along with his resentment and frustration. For a split second, Dean allowed himself to entertain the idea that things would be different if Dad was there with them, but he realized that – yeah, of course they would be – Sam and Dad would be fighting just for lack of anything better to do and Dean would be wanting to rip his hair out even more than he was already.

“Well suck it up, princess,” he said finally, shoving Sam against the window with his elbow. “We’re not turning around now.”

Dean had figured – Sunday, mid afternoon – the zoo would be pretty quiet, but it was teeming with screaming kids and haggard mothers, and the zoo staff looked like they wanted to kill someone. The tigers were asleep, they couldn’t even _find_ the ocelot, not to mention half the animals in the reptile house, and there was this ugly-ass thing called a capybara that looked like it was more dead than alive. Sam dragged ass the whole way around the place, wearing his top shelf bitch-face, and even though he didn’t say a word, Dean knew he was having a shit time.

They ate greasy, cold, over-priced hotdogs for their dinner and took one last swing past the reptile house before they headed for the gate – but at the last second, seeing the gates more or less pulled shut and the last of the guests trickling out, Dean got another of his potentially stupid ideas. He grabbed Sam and hauled him around behind the ticket booth clamping a hand over his mouth as he yelped in protest and dragging him until they were concealed behind a thick growth of decorative hedges.

“Dean!” Sam hissed, thrashing a little as Dean forced him down to sit in the dirt. “What the hell?”

“Shut up,” Dean waved him into silence, peering through the underbrush. “Just stay quiet.”

“We’re supposed to _leave_ , Dean – the zoo is closing – we’re going to miss the last bus!”

Dean scowled at him and Sam muttered, “You’re out of your mind,” before lapsing into sullen silence. They stayed tucked behind the bushes until the gates clanged shut and the lights went out.

“What the hell are we supposed to do now?” Sam demanded, shaking off Dean’s hands and pushing up to his feet, wiping dirt from the knees of his jeans.

“I don’t know, alright?” Dean felt suddenly prickly and defensive, glowering up at his brother from the dirt. “I’m just trying to do something nice for you!”

“By locking us inside a zoo – are you crazy? _God_.” Sam turned away and stormed off and Dean scrambled after him, hissing in the darkness.

“Sam – Sam! Get back here!”

“Leave me alone, Dean – I’m going to find a security guard.”

“Are you _insane_? You’re going to get us in so much shit!”

Sam broke into a run and Dean swallowed the urge to shout. The deeper they moved into the zoo, the darker it got, and the cages and hedges loomed up on either side of them, impossibly narrowing the pathways; until Sam swung around a sharp corner and something sprang forward out of the darkness. Sam didn’t scream – dad already had him too well programmed to scream, because screaming could give away your position if you were in danger – but he slammed to a dead halt, like a deer caught in the headlights, and Dean practically rolled right over him as the tiger shoulder-checked the side of the cage again, growling low in the back of its throat. It was close enough to touch, and Dean wondered how the hell they’d managed to get off the path and in behind the security rail.

He wrapped his arms around Sam’s shoulders and pulled him back as tiger paced in its cage, keeping one eye on them that glittered with a curious hunger. Dean could smell it – blood and grass and warm fur – and he felt Sam’s fingertips flutter against his thigh, like the kid was going to be crazy enough to try and reach out for it.

“Don’t.”

“I –“ he was sure he could hear the heavy click of Sam swallowing. “I won’t. Look at it Dean...it’s so...”

“Yeah,” Dean agreed, breathless. “Wow.”

There was a flash of light from somewhere nearby, bobbing with the motion of someone walking, and Dean sucked in a hard breath, preparing for the inevitable fallout of being caught somewhere he definitely didn’t belong. Maybe, if he turned the charm up high enough he could say they’d been in the bathroom puking up bad hot dogs.

Sam pulled on his arm, “C’mon Dean – he’s gonna catch us!”

“What?”

“I wanna see more!”

Dean could just make out the sharp whiteness of Sam’s wide-toothed grin in the darkness. “Are you sure?”

“It’s my birthday, isn’t it?”

Dean smothered a laugh as they ducked under the security railing and jogged away from the approaching light in what Dean hoped was the direction of the reptile house. “Yeah, Sammy, it’s your birthday.”

-End-


End file.
